The Knightly News

By: Raymond Chang, Ananya Dondapati, Emma Gampper, Megan Leung, and Aashika Mehta

Photo credit: Raymond Chang

Last night, at their home pool, the Northern Knights Girls’ and Boys’ swim teams defeated their cross-town rivals, South’s Pirates, by more than just a few strokes. The girls’ team won with a final score of 101-69 and the boys’ team won with a final score of 107-59. Both teams are now 8-0 for the season.  

The North-South rivalry remains an intense one. This year, notable swimmers such as Ethan Yuen, Lauren Chan, and Victoria Zhang have strengthened the North teams, but it is the depth of the teams that has brought them great success. 

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On the left, a history of how the boy’s swim team has performed against South, the same data is displayed on the right only for the girl’s team.  Source: swimcloud.com

Every year, North and South have highly competitive swim teams on both the girls’ and boys’ side. As a result, the inter-district dual meet is highly anticipated and garners a high turn out every year. Teachers, students, family members, and North alumni filled the stands, further contributing to the already enthusiastic atmosphere.

“Going into the races we had a feeling the girls would be close- we knew we had to be on our top game. But the girl’s performance exceeded our expectations pulling out a huge win,” said Coach Reca. Prior to the meet, Coach Todd Robinson predicted that the girl’s team would have only an eight-point margin to win, but the female swim team blew South’s Pirates out of the water. 

This season, both the South girls’ and the North boys’ and girls’ teams were undefeated going into yesterday’s meet. The South boys’ had lost one meet prior to the inter-district meet.  

The Northern Knights celebrate their victory against their cross-town rival, the South Pirates. Photo-credit: Raymond Chang

During the meet, Senior Ethan Yuen broke his own school record in the 100 Butterfly with a time of 57.56, improving his time by nearly an entire second. “I didn’t go into the meet planning on breaking my record,” said Yuen, “I was focused on being there for my team.”

On the boys’ and girls’ side, the swimmers and coaches put significant effort into determining the lineup. “Planning the lineup for the South meet was a strategic feat that many of the guys on the team took part in,” said Senior Anish Rajesh. The boys’ landslide victory was also aided by South’s team missing one of its top swimmers, Matteo Vitaloni (junior).

The dedication the team has for their sport was also one of their greatest assets. The swim team practices every day except on meet days and Sundays. Practices during the weekdays last two hours and Saturday practices last three hours, with one hour of dry-land training. After winning the meet, Senior Anish Rajesh believes that “it was a great experience and we know that we have a strong chance of winning counties and going far into the state tournament.” 

“We feel very confident about the rest of our season, it was an exhilarating meet and we will see South again soon in our state bracket and plan to finish our regular season on a high note,” said Coach Cheryl Reca.